The Great Prince
by Wavie
Summary: Bambi 2 from the Great Prince's point of view.
1. Bambi

_Here I am again, uploading a new story when I know I should focus on my already uploaded stories thata re still in progress but I've had this file on my computer for over a year now and I wanted to upload it here because I wanted it to be read by someone else rather than just myself. I think that the sequel to Bambi was a great sequel, the bond between Bambi and his father is so sweet and I just love this movie. If you've read the summary, which I think you have, because why else would you have come to this page, yeah whatever, then you know that this is the sequel told from The Great Prince's point of view._

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**Chapter 1 – Bambi**

The Great Prince of the forest was on his daily patrol through the forest. The ground was now covered with a thick blanket of snow and the sky was gray and boring. The deer had been forced to eat bark from the trees and hence the trees were now mostly naked. The forest was not as lively and joyous as it used to be. Most animals had gone to sleep for the winter and the birds had all flown southwards. There weren't many animals left aside from the deer. That was actually a good thing because that meant that most of the animals in the forest were safe and there hadn't been any accident in days.

Currently he was making his way to the meadow. The meadow that was closest to where _they_ lived. Maybe he would see them there like that summer day. Though he hoped that wasn't the case, he almost lost Bambi that day, he went out on the meadow to warn the herd and Bambi got lost in the crowd and if he had not been there Bambi could have gotten shot. But Bambi had a smart mother that was more than capable of looking after him; as long as they stayed inside the forest they should be safe.

Suddenly he heard the sound that he hated the most in the whole forest. There were intruders in his forest. Quickly, as fast as his legs could carry him, he ran towards the meadow.

He was running towards his destination with high speed when he heard a shot. The sound of something collapsing followed and he knew what that meant. An animal had been shot, a big animal. He kept running.

When he reached the meadow he saw it. A doe was lying in the snow. He looked around for dogs or hunters but there were none yet. Slowly he approached the doe and his heart skipped a beat when he recognized it. It was _his_ doe. It was _his_ love. Her crimson eyes were lifeless, the light gone from them never to return.

He caught the smell of Man, it was stronger than before and he knew what that meant. But there was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen, she was dead and Man was coming for her. After casting one last look at his beloved he retreated to the forest. He ran to the ticket that he knew she had lived in with their son. He hadn't seen the little fawn anywhere so he figured that he managed to escape and returned to the ticket.

But when he reached the ticket there was no fawn, however he did find prints from four small hooves and so he could guess that Bambi had gone looking for his mother. He sighed and went to follow the prints.

When he had followed the prints for some time he heard the voice of a child. "Mother where are you," it screamed. The Prince immediately knew that the voice belonged to Bambi.

And right he was, moments later he caught sight of a little fawn and he immediately recognized it as his son. He slowly approached the young Prince and Bambi gasped in shock at the sight of him.

"Your mother can't be with you anymore," he told his son.

Bambi lowered his head in sadness.

"Come," he told the fawn.

His son obediently followed him to his den where he told the fawn to go to sleep.

It took less than a minute for his son to fall asleep; he assumed that the effort of looking for his mother along with lack of food had tired him out. He silently watched Bambi's sleeping form. The poor fawn was without a mother now, what could he do? The little one was too young to survive on his own, especially in winter.

He heard the sound of bashing wings approach and he turned his head to see no one but Friend Owl.

"Friend Owl," he greeted.

"Yes, I'm sorry to just step in like this but I had to come," the owl said, looking at Bambi. "Poor little fellow, he is too young to be without his mother".

The Prince agreed. He watched his son solemnly.

"Well if I can be at any help," the Owl began. He didn't answer but just kept looking at his sleeping son. He heard the owl prepare to fly off again.

"Wait," he said, before the owl managed to leave. "I _could_ use your help".

The owl nodded, telling him that he was listening.

"Find a suitable doe to raise Bambi," he said.

"Yes of course," Friend Owl said, digesting his words. "But I don't know, there's so little food and the does can hardly feed themselves". The Owl thought about it for a while. "But perhaps you cold…"

"Me?" the Prince said, surprised. "You know as well as I do that a Prince looks after the herd and the does care for the younglings".

"Yes but you are his father and circumstances being what they are…"

The Prince digested the owl's words for a moment. He did have a point there. He sighed, knowing that he had no choice. "Until spring".

"Wonderful," Friend Owl said. "Who could better raise the young Prince than the Great Prince of the forest himself?" With that said Friend Owl took to the skies.

The Great Prince of the forest looked once more at his sleeping son and sighed. This was going to be a difficult winter. He laid down in the den beside his son. He couldn't get her off his mind. Today he lost his beloved. He would never ever see her again on the meadow, playing with their son; she was gone, never to return. He couldn't get the picture of her beautiful lifeless form out of his head. Knowing that she was gone made his heart ache, it was the worst heartache he had ever felt in his entire life. She was gone. She was gone and would never come back.

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_Yeah I still don't know why I broke it into chapters, maybe because I myself hate reading stories that are 10,000+ words in one piece So that's why. I hope some Disney fan liked this._


	2. Two Princes

_Here you go. Chapter two's up already. I never experienced ever that people would review so fast so here you have the next chapter already, and it's longer than the first one. _

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**Chapter 2 – Two Princes**

When he woke up the next morning he got a little shock when he saw the little fawn sleeping next to him but then he remembered the events of the previous night and he became more relaxed. He rose from his lying position and walked out of the den to look at the sky. It was almost dawn. Good, because that meant that there was still some time left before the rest of the forest would wake up. He looked back at the den where his son was still sleeping. He wondered if he should wake up Bambi or not. He decided against it, for now. He went down to the creek that was nearby. The creek was no longer frozen as temperature had risen during the last week. He drank some water before looking for something to eat.

When he came back to his den Bambi was still asleep.

The Great Prince sighed. It would indeed be a difficult winter.

He watched the sky as golden rays of sun came into view in the horizon. During the winter sights like this had been rare, it was a good sign, it meant that spring was coming closer.

He heard the sound of twittering birds and he sighed. Bambi was late. He would have to find a way to change his son's sleeping habits.

He went back to admiring the dawn, having decided to give the fawn a few minutes more to wake up on his own.

He turned around when he heard a small sneeze coming from the den. Good, looked like his son had finally decided to wake up. He went to stare at his den, waiting for the fawn to emerge from the shadows. After a little while it happened. The poor little fawn was in a hurry, he didn't even watch where he was going and he was doomed to collide with the Great Prince, which he did. He ran right into his father's front legs and fell backwards into the snow.

"Good morning," his son said and let out a nervous giggle.

The stag sighed. "Bambi, a Prince awakens before the forest does," he said, "if you're late again I'll have no choice but to…" he stopped mid-sentence when he heard a rumbling sound. "What was that?"

"What was what?" his son asked nervously, letting out the same kind of giggle as before. The sound was present again and Bambi looked down in shame. "I guess it was my stomach," he said apologetically.

"Then you should eat," the older Prince said.

Bambi looked around for a moment before looking back at his father questioningly.

The Prince understood. This was just a fawn after all. "I suppose I should find you something to eat," he said. He looked around in search for some food for his son. He then dug in the snow until he found some remains of a bush. He stepped aside from it to give Bambi access. The little fawn happily walked over to him but when he saw the bush his smile turned to disgust. "No thanks," Bambi said.

"Have you ever tried it?" The Great Prince asked.

"N-no," Bambi stuttered.

He sighed. "Then how do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it?"

Bambi looked at the bush in defeat and lowered his head to take a bite of one of the branches.

"Well?" he asked the fawn. Bambi smiled and nodded before shivering as the cold stick went down his throat.

"Come Bambi," he said, "we have to check on the other deer in the south wood".

Bambi's face lit up and he happily jumped after him. "Woohoo," the fawn yelled with excitement.

"Bambi," he said sternly, "a Prince does not woo hoo".

"He doesn't?" Bambi asked in surprise.

"He most certainly does not," the Great Prince answered. "A Prince remains calm no matter what, displays dignity, and walks with pride".

Bambi raised his head and walked calmly behind him. But as the pair was making their way down a hill Bambi slid down with high speed. "I'm okay, the little Prince said from down there.

The Great Prince of the forest sighed.

As they were walking through the water Bambi shivered, even thought he water wasn't frozen anymore it was still very cold and Bambi, unable to stay calm in such a low temperature, jumped out of the water and jumped around on the shore, while he kept saying how cold it was.

The Great Prince sighed again.

As they came to a fallen tree that blocked the path he jumped over it with ease, but Bambi had more trouble with it, he stopped in front of it and started to count, making himself ready but he never got past two and so the fawn decided to crawl under it.

That was easier said than done. It took a lot of effort for the little fawn.

The prince let out another sigh.

They stopped when they reached a cliff that had the view over the meadow they saw a couple of deer grassing. Bambi looked up at him questioningly. "Don't you think it would be better if we got a little closer?"

"The distance makes it easier to spot danger," The Great Prince replied simply, not even bothering to look at the fawn.

"Oh," Bambi said in understanding, "but it sure makes it harder to play with them".

At this the stag eyed him in wonder.

"Playing is an important part of a young deer's life," the little Prince explained.

"Is that so?" he said in a non-caring tone.

Bambi nodded. "Yes, Mother says so".

The Great Prince of the forest sighed in sadness.

"I remember this one time, when Mother and me were out on the meadow and then a doe came over to us and wanted to play and…" the Fawn stopped his babbling when he heard the sound of his stern voice.

The stag sighed. "I think it is best to leave the past in the past," he said gently, "a Prince does not look back, only ahead".

Well that wasn't entirely true; he had often looked back on the memories he shared with Bambi's mother and yesterday he was almost unable to fall asleep because he couldn't stop thinking about her. But that was not something he was proud of, he wanted to forget her, he really did, it would ease his pain. So hence he wanted Bambi to do the same as he was trying to do. He wanted his son to realize that his mother was gone and that he should think about the present and what is important now and not what she said back then, he was not like Bambi's mother, and he wanted Bambi to know it.

"Oh," Bambi said, nodding. "Yes sir".

"Come," he told the fawn, trying to shake the painful thoughts out of his head, "we have a large area to cover today, don't fall behind".

As they walked the snow got thicker and thicker and before long his legs were completely lost in the snow. He hoped the little fawn behind him was able to keep up with this. He kept walking and when he turned his head to see how his son was doing he didn't see him. And so the Great Prince of the forest had to turn back and search for his heir. It did not take long to find him. Bambi was talking to some rabbits. They were talking about the groundhog.

"Bambi!" he yelled and his son looked at him. "I've got to go," his son told the rabbits.

When Bambi had made it back to him he cleared his throat, as a sign of disapprovement. Bambi nodded and he turned to continue their walk. When they came to some cliffs he heard the sound of something slipping and he looked back to see Bambi far beneath him, unable to walk up the cliffs and the Prince looked ahead, there was still a lot of cliff left to cross and he knew that Bambi couldn't possibly keep up with him. He sighed for the umpteenth time that day and walked back to Bambi, who looked up at him. His son gave him a nervous smile.

"Why don't you go with your friends to see the groundhog?" he asked.

"But I want to stay with you," the fawn said.

Well at least his son was eager to go along with him; that at least was something. But what was the use if Bambi was unable to keep up with him? With his son tagging along he would never get through his daily route today.

"Yes, he said, thinking of a suitable excuse. "I have to check on the south meadow, it's very far, go see the groundhog, I'll meet you there later".

"Alright," Bambi said, nodding, "I'll meet you".

He didn't respond but just continued his route after taking one last look at his son.

Later he came across some birds that were twittering happily and he assumed that everything with the groundhog had gone well and that spring had come. He was glad, the sooner the spring came the sooner Friend Owl would find a new home for Bambi.

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_How was it? I know not much action but I had to break it here since I thought describing the Prince's daily routine would be boring. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter._


	3. Her Eyes

_Happy December 1st everyone :) Only 23 more days to go before we can open our presents :) Here's a little present form me - a new chapter. I hope you'll like it, even though it's still a bit short._

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_**Chapter 3 – Her eyes**

When the evening came and the sky went dark he went to get Bambi. When he reached the place where he knew the groundhog lived he did not see Bambi but his scent was lingering in the air and he soon followed his son's scent to a corner where there was signs in the snow that somebody had been lying down there, Bambi without doubt. So Bambi had taken a nap while waiting for him. But where was he now? Where could he have gone?

Suddenly some crows flew by. "Man! Man!" they screamed.

Realization dawned upon him. "Bambi," he cried, following his son's scent. It led him to the meadow, which only increased his fear. Bambi wouldn't be that stupid, to go out on the meadow alone in winter, would he? When he stepped out from the woods he saw hounds. They were approaching something under a cliff. It looked like a fawn.

"Run Bambi," he yelled.

The fawn didn't move.

He sighed and ran towards the cliff at high speed. When he got there he threw himself at the hounds in front of him, keeping them at bay with his antlers. After fighting for a time he finally managed to scare the hounds away.

"Run Bambi," he said to his son who stood as stiff as the cliff behind him, just staring at the scene. The Great Prince looked ahead, seeing something shiny and he immediately knew that now was the time to escape if they wanted to make it out of this alive. "Run Bambi!" he tried again, but the fawn was completely frozen from shock and so he pushed his son with his head. It worked, Bambi was able to move again and both immediately ran for their lives back into the forest.

"But it was mother," Bambi said when they were both safely surrounded by the trees of the forest, "I heard her voice".

"It was one of Man's tricks," the stag said angrily.

"I'm sorry," Bambi said.

"What if I hadn't gotten there in time?" he shouted. "You could have been…" he stopped himself from fulfilling that sentence, there was no point in ending it since Bambi already knew what Man did to deer, having experienced a loss himself, plus a part of him didn't want to complete the sentence because he didn't want to think about what could have happened if he had not been there to save him.

"When I tell you to run you _run_," he said instead, "_never_ freeze like that, _ever_". The last word might have been too loud but he didn't care, he wanted Bambi to get the message and learn from his mistake.

"I'm sorry," Bambi said again.

He sighed. "Let's go home". This time his voice was back to normal.

It did not take long for them to get back to the den. They hadn't exchanged a word on the way and when he looked back at his son he could see the regret displayed on his face, the fawn's head was lowered and his ears and his tail were as well. Bambi's steps were heavy, it more seemed like the fawn had dragged himself along.

He stopped a few feet from the opening of the den and looked at Bambi expectantly. Bambi understood and made his way further towards the den. But just as he had reached the opening he turned back towards him and looked at him.

His heart ached at the look in his son's eyes; it was filled with sadness, that kind of sadness that came with great disappointment and loneliness. But there was something else about those eyes that brought pain to him. Those eyes were an exact copy of _her_ eyes. Bambi had taken his eyes after his mother. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before.

Looking into his son's eyes reminded him that Bambi was also _her_ son. And no matter how many times he tried to pretend otherwise he would never stop missing her and there wasn't a day where he did not think of her. And every time he did he felt a piercing ache in his heart.

Bambi looked at him with deep sorrow in his eyes; his big crimson eyes were filled with pain. "She is never coming back, is she?" his son asked him, a question he had expected but also dreaded. And now, hearing this question, the pain in his chest increased.

He remembered the sight of her lifeless body. He had found her just before he found Bambi and he almost cried at the sight, the shot had killed her and hence there was nothing he could do for her and hence protecting her from the hounds was pointless. He remembered all too well how she looked, still beautiful as always, even in death and the light gone from her crimson eyes.

"No," he said sadly and then immediately turning away from the vision of his son looking at him with his big sad red eyes.

He walked away from the den with heavy steps. He went to the edge of the cliff and looked down on the meadow. That was where he last saw her alive. And that was where she was killed. Had he just been quick enough and reached her in time Bambi would still have his mother and then he would not be left alone and then he would not have been in danger today and the guilt would not be eating him up from the inside right now.

Slowly he walked back to the den to make sure the little fawn was sound asleep. He watched him for a while before heading off into the forest. Friend Owl's tree was not so far away from his den.

"Friend Owl," he said, waking the old owl from his sleep. The owl gave a jump at the sound of his voice.

"Winter is almost gone," he continued," it should not be any trouble to find a new home for Bambi".

"So you're sure about this?" the owl asked him. "I mean..." "Yes I am," he interrupted and Friend Owl had no choice but to nod.

"I want this matter solved as quickly as possible," the Great Prince told him before walking away.

When he reached the den he laid down next to his son. He eyed Bambi's sleeping form for some time before he lowered his head to the ground and laid there, waiting for sleep to take over him.

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_Please review._


	4. Jump

_Yeah it's been a while but I was out of town for a week, visiting my grandparents and I couldn't bring my own computer so I didn't have access to this story file and hence I couldn't update. But now I'm back. It's December 12th, only 12 more days till Christmas Eve, excited? I know I am. Anyway here you go. Chapter 4.  
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**Chapter 4 - Jump**

The next morning he strictly told Bambi to stay near the den. His little Prince was not happy with it but he did not object as he knew it was better that way.

The days turned into weeks and the snow melted away and the temperature rose. It was now clear that the spring had come. He still kept disappointing Bambi every morning by ordering him to stay near the den but he knew that it was for the best, he could not risk letting Bambi walk around as he pleased because he could get caught in one of Man's traps. When he in the evening came back he would either find Bambi very bored or asleep from boredom but he didn't pay that much attention to it, the most important thing was that Bambi was safe.

One morning Bambi was very eager.

"So where are we off to today?" his son asked him eagerly.

"You'll stay near the den where it's safe," he told his son once again.

"But I'm ready for adventures, for danger, for..." "The den," the Great Prince interrupted his babbling and began to walk away.

"Yeah, good idea, I'll stay and guard the den," he heard Bambi say before he came out of hear range.

He wandered off on his daily route as usual and suddenly he heard the voice of a child. "Help, help!" it screamed and the Prince turned around to see a gray rabbit, which he thought he recalled seeing with Bambi the previous day. It was without doubt the only son in the rabbit family that lived in this part of the forest. But what was he doing here?

"There's this thing," the rabbit explained," and it's got these eyes," the rabbit pulled down his lower eyelids, making his eyes look bigger. "And these claws," the rabbit continued," and it walks around like this," it said, making an imitation of the thing's walking. The Prince had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "And you've got to see it," the rabbit said and vanished into a hole between the bushes.

The Prince just looked at the bush, not knowing how to react to this. There was something about what the rabbit had told him that just wasn't right and the panicking ring in its voice didn't sound right either.

"Well come on," the rabbit urged him and he sighed, having no choice but to follow.

While he followed the little rabbit around only one thought was on his mind; _'what have I gotten myself into?'_

"It's right over here," the rabbit said. The rabbit looked through a hole in a bush and shook its head. "Sorry, wrong way".

He sighed once more.

Suddenly he heard a scream some distance away. "What was that?" he murmured.

"What was what? I hear nothing, didn't hear anything, it's probably just a bird," the rabbit said while trying to push him away, "yes that's it a bird". But the Great Prince of the forest ignored the little rabbit and walked into the direction that the scream had come from.

When he came by a creek with a fallen tree trunk over it he heard a porcupine murmur something about kids these days and he stopped to listen.

"What are you looking at you big moose?" the porcupine asked him in an impudent tone.

The Prince glared at the hole in the trunk where through the porcupine had gone. He turned his head to look at the gray little rabbit standing next to him and cleared his throat and the rabbit gave him a nervous smile before it vanished. The Great Prince of the forest sighed again while shaking his head and continued his route. Nothing really happened after the incident with the rabbit, until he found his son rather far away from the den. A gray rabbit was with him, without doubt the same one that had made him follow him earlier that day. The rabbit was laughing, saying something about Mama's boy and Bambi was laughing along with him.

When the Great Prince cleared his throat Bambi gasped and the rabbit hid behind him.

"Hello Dad," his son greeted him nervously.

"Bambi," he said sternly, "I told you to stay near the den. When I give you an order I expect you to…" he paused mid-sentence to look at the surroundings. They were standing behind a cleft. "How did you…" he paused again, looking down at Bambi. "Did you jump?"

Bambi turned his head to look at the cleft behind him before looking back at him. The fawn nodded. "Yes sir," he said.

The Great Prince of the forest could not suppress his smile. He was impressed. And he was very pleased with the skills his son was displaying.

"I couldn't make a jump like that before I had my antlers," he said in awe.

Bambi's face lit up and a wide smile spread across the little fawn's face. A smile spread across the Great Prince's features as well but he managed to stifle it before it got too wide. He cleared his throat. "Well, we better go… home," he said.

When they got back to the den the sky had darkened. Bambi immediately fell asleep. The stag was lying awake watching the sleeping form of his son. What was this feeling that he had? For some reason he couldn't stop thinking about what he had learned today, about his son's jump. He couldn't stop thinking about how pleased he was with his son's progress. _'If you could see him now,'_ he thought while looking at the starry sky outside the den.

What was this feeling? Was it pride? No, not just that, there was something else too. But he didn't know what. And he still hadn't found a name for this mysterious feeling when he allowed sleep to claim him.

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_Yeah, short but I felt that it was a good place to end this chapter. Review please, I'd really like to know what you think._


	5. That Feeling

_Now I'm back to updating regularly again :D Once a day. I'm not sure if this chapter turned out good or not, and it's rather short again but it was written a year ago, meaning that my writing has improved a little since then. But here it is. Chapter 5.  
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**Chapter 5 – That feeling**

The Great Prince still didn't feel Bambi was ready to come with him but he allowed Bambi to walk around the forest as he pleased though he told Bambi not to go too far away from the den and to stay away from the meadow. Bambi still wanted to go with him but the new conditions made him a little happier and the Prince watched his son eagerly run off to meet with his friends.

The day after Bambi's little jump he found him with the rabbit Thumper, his best friend. Bambi was standing on a big rock while the rabbit was standing next to a pinker some feet away.

"Oh I don't know," the fawn told his friend. "Oh come on Bambi, you can do it," the rabbit encouraged him; "you jumped much further yesterday".

Bambi was still hesitant and the little rabbit began to sing a mocking song and that did it for Bambi; his son took a few steps backwards before running off the edge of the rock and launching himself into the air, landing on his legs perfectly far away from the pinker.

"Wow? Did you see that?" Bambi asked Thumper.

"Yeah," the rabbit exclaimed with excitement.

"Again," Bambi ordered, "and put it further away this time".

"Wait till your dad sees this!" Thumper said and Bambi agreed.

The Great Prince chuckled at his son's excitement. Suddenly he heard different chuckles mixed with his own and he turned his head to see Friend Owl.

The owl chuckled. "Good morning sir".

"Good morning owl," he said.

"I just wanted to tell you that our search has set off to a flying start," the owl said.

He nodded, still watching his son practicing his jumps with his friend while the owl babbled something about no fun intended.

"Well," the owl continued, "I have already met with several does who'd make excellent mothers".

He continued watching Bambi as he jumped further and further away from the rock, making excellent progress. There was this feeling again, the frightfully unknown but yet so thrilling feeling.

"Unless you've changed your mind?" Friend Owl said.

"No I haven't," he said coldly. When the owl left he went over to the two kids.

"What exactly are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm practicing my jumps," his son told him proudly.

"Yeah," Thumper agreed, "see?"

"I see," he said before walking past them. He walked up to a hill nearby. He closed his eyes and concentrating on feeling the forest through the hooves on his legs like he used to. He had decided to stay near his son for a while; it was not far away from the meadow so if he sensed any danger he would still be able to run to the deer.

From the sound of it Bambi was no longer practicing his jumps and he was speaking with a low voice so that even he couldn't make out his son's words. He felt a sudden urge to turn back to the fawn and ask him if there was anything wrong, just to make sure his son was all right but he dismissed that thought and continued on with his observation.

Moments later he heard steps approach and he slightly turned his head to see his son standing behind him, looking rather nervous. "Eh, wh-what are you doing?" Bambi stuttered.

Well if that was all his son had to say then he could be almost sure that nothing was wrong with him but that still didn't mean that he was happy to be interrupted.

"Observing," he simply answered.

"Oh," Bambi said, "what's observing?"

"Well it's…" for the first time in a long time the Great Prince of the forest was at loss for words. He did not remember how his own father had explained that to him, perhaps he hadn't; perhaps he just with time learned what that actually meant. But now his son was asking him a question and because he was still new to parenthood he did not yet know how to deal with such situations. He wondered how _she_ would have handled a situation like this.

He sighed. "It's difficult to explain".

Bambi lowered his head. "Oh," he said with disappointment.

The Great Prince looked at his son and then at the horizon, which right now was trees, a little bit of sky and the golden sunlight that decorated it.

His eyes lit up when he got an idea. "You have to look, listen and smell, all at the same time".

His son's face it up and he smiled in excitement. "I can do that," he said. He made his eyes wide, spread his ears and sniffed, taking in the scent in the air.

The Great Prince chuckled. "Try to feel the forest around you," he said, closing his eyes, again focusing on his observations.

There was quiet for a moment before Bambi said, "I don't feel anything".

He didn't answer to that but just focused. "Does, playing on the meadow," he said.

"How do you know?" Bambi asked him curiously.

"I feel it in my hooves," he said. "If there was danger they would thump in the ground and I would run to them".

"Wouldn't you be afraid?" his son asked him in wonder.

"Perhaps," he answered truthfully, "but I'd still run to them. A Prince may be afraid but he cannot let fear prevent him from acting".

"Wow," his son uttered in amazement. "You know everything". The Great Prince chuckled, hearing the admiration in his son's voice. "No, not everything," he answered.

Realizing that he had been standing still long enough he said, "Well, the forest is waiting". He walked past his son but stopped after a few feet. He glanced back at Bambi. Maybe it was time for him to learn about the forest in a new way, he would someday take over his role as the Great Prince and protector of the forest and hence he would eventually have to learn it so why not start now when there was time for it?

"Are you coming?" he asked his son.

The fawn's eyes lit up and he eagerly ran over to him.

The Great Prince chuckled once more. The strange feeling returned, now stronger than before.

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_How did you like this chapter? Was it good? Bad? Please tell me what you think, I know I have more readers than reviewers so please submit a review and give me your oppinion._


	6. Spring

_Thanks for all the reviews I got for the last chapter, it really warmed my heart. I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I kind off feel like I just rushed through it but it was a little difficult to describe the things happening during the song ´First Sign of Spring,' but it is a happy chapter where the Great Prince finally is starting to get the hang of this fathering-job. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading it.  
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**Chapter 6 – Spring**

The rest of the day Bambi tried to feel the forest as his father had instructed him but there was no success, the only thing the fawn accomplished was to walk right into a tree and hence hitting his nose.

The next day the Great Prince took his son along on his daily patrol through the forest.

Now the water was warmer and hence Bambi managed to walk through the river without any problems. He walked proudly behind his father until they reached the cliffs that he had never managed to climb. Bambi eyed them nervously before trying to force himself up. The Great Prince watched his son with patience. After a few failed attempts he realized that Bambi would never make it by himself and hence he gently gave his son a helping push with his snout. He helped Bambi to climb the rest of the cliffs and with his help they were both on the top. Bambi was very proud of himself even though he had received help. The Great Prince didn't reproach his son for not being able to climb cliffs anymore as he now remembered the troubles he himself had gone through with it when he was a little fawn himself.

When the pair came to a fallen tree that crossed their path the stag easily jumped over it and went to look at his son expectantly though this time he just gave his son an encouraging smile and the fawn walked backwards until he was standing a few feet away from the tree before he leapt towards it and jumped over it. Bambi smiled proudly and walked past his father with pride and the buck smiled.

After that day Bambi went with him every day and he kept improving and with each day the great Prince's pride grew.

One day they stumbled upon a spider web with a ladybug trapped in it and a spider slowly crawling towards it. Bambi didn't hesitate to help it so he put one leg between the two bugs and hence he let the ladybug crawl away from the spider via his leg. The Great Prince smiled with pride.

Bambi also learned to listen with his hooves. Bambi was standing still, in deep concentration while his father was watching. Suddenly the little fawn looked up at him with excitement. "I hear it! I hear it".

The Great Prince of the forest was smiling contently, proud of his son's achievements and he followed his son to the meadow where, just as Bambi had predicted, stags were racing each other. Suddenly the look on the fawn's face went sad and he asked his father, "When will I get my antlers".

That question made the stag chuckle. He remembered asking his own father that once, being impatient after becoming a grown buck. "That won't be long now," he told his son, "if you're anything like I was".

"Am I?" Bambi asked him.

"Well," he said, smiling. "Let's find out". With that said he raced out to the other stags and joined them in their marathon, quickly running past all of them of course. Not long after that he saw his son running among the stags as well, currently he was stuck a while behind him alongside some other fawn, whose spots were missing and whose first pair of antlers were already growing on his head. He lowered his head and made a forward motion with his mighty antlers, gesturing for his son to run up to him. That made Bambi increase speed and son father and son were running side-by-side, far ahead of the other deer.

One day when they watched the meadow they saw a bunch of stags sparring with each other. The Great Prince got an idea and positioned himself in front of Bambi with his head lowered, antlers pointing towards him. Bambi smirked playfully and ran towards him, head lowered as well but because he didn't have any antlers he was just thrown backwards when his head collided with his father's. But that didn't stop Bambi and he kept trying until he got exhausted. He was glad that his son was starting to show some guts. Whenever the fawn would face a challenge he never backed away and he kept trying until he had succeeded, but in this case he had no chance, not when he didn't even have a set of antlers. But he thought with a smile that in a short time, maybe by the end of spring or the beginning of summer.

Over the weeks he did a lot of things with his son, he chased crickets, ate blossoms and played with water. With Bambi with him on his daily patrols it was never boring and on the way Bambi picked up new things and he was amazed at how much his son had learned the past weeks. The strange feeling inside him kept growing, day by day it grew stronger. What the feeling was exactly was still unclear to him but he knew that it was somehow connected to Bambi, because every time his son learned something new or looked at him with those adorable eyes that he inherited from his mother the feeling returned. The Great Prince didn't mind, he liked the feeling, but he wished that he knew what it meant.

One nigh he laid in his den, exhausted, just waiting impatiently for sleep to take over him. But it was impossible he could not fall asleep with an energy bomb named Bambi next to him. His son was not showing any tiredness and he was currently lying beside him, giggling madly.

"Bambi," he said hoarsely, too tired to raise his voice like he would usually do when he was being reproachful.

The little fawn just continued giggling.

"Try to sleep," the Great Prince begged sleepily.

"But I can't sleep," Bambi said, "I'm wide awake".

The Great Prince was more than unhappy with that information, he was so tired that he almost considered killing himself just to get peace, and yet he was not tired enough to ignore his son's cheerful giggles filled with energy.

"Try," he said, unable to utter any more words.

"Okay I'll try," Bambi said and the stag closed his eyes in contentment, thinking that now he would finally be able to close his eyes and fall asleep. But he was wrong, mere moments later Bambi let out another series of giggles. "It was just so funny when I got you to chase that cricket, and then there was one more, and one more," his son babbled excitedly.

"Yes, now go to sleep," he ordered the fawn and closed his eyes again, desperately praying for sleep to take him.

"Flower sleeps all winter".

The Great Prince sighed in discomfort.

"Why do we sleep?"

"We all must rest some time," he told the fawn, "some during the day, and others at night, some not at all". The last part was referring to his son and Bambi giggled.

He let out some chuckles himself. He was glad to have his son beside him, even though he lost sleep because of him. He found himself thinking how in the world had he managed to survive without Bambi for so long? And he felt the strange but good feeling return.

"Mother is resting now isn't she?"

That question made the feeling disappear and be replaced by a terrible ache in his chest. He did not know what to say, the last couple of days had actually been surprisingly peaceful, not a single thought about his lost mate, but now the aching longing for her returned and he just looked at their son, his mouth slightly opened but he was not able to utter even a single word.

"Oh I forgot," Bambi said, "a Prince leaves the past in the past, right?" His son looked up at him. On his face there was a smile, it was like Bambi did not miss his mother at all, like he had taken his advice and left her in the past. It was almost unbelievable, his son had accepted her death and moved on and he was still trying to but could not.

He sighed. "That's enough questions for today, now get some sleep," he told the fawn.

"Okay," Bambi said and yawned.

And then there was finally quiet in the den. The little Prince had finally fallen asleep. But the Great Prince was still awake; unable to fall asleep. Why was it so hard? Would her memory really end up haunting him forever? Would he never be able to get over it? Was it to punish him for neglecting her and their son when she was still alive? Even before their fawn was born he saw little to her. All that because he was the Prince, the protector of the herd. He never had time for her and still she loved him and after she died he neglected their son too. What kind of father was he?

After a couple of more hours had passed the Great Prince could finally be relieved from his thoughts and be claimed by sleep.

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_So? What was your opinion on this chapter? Did you like it? I hope so._

_This is the last pre-written chapter, I'm currently stuck in the middle of chapter 7, where we'll be introduced to Mena. So There may not be an update tomorrow._

_Please review this chapter, it is true when authors say that reviews make them write faster, it gives them motivation and determination to continue writing so that you readers can have something nice to read. I'll do my best to update as fast as I can._

_Thanks for reading.  
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	7. Mena

_YAY! I managed to update in time. I hope you like this chapter.  
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**Chapter 7 – Mena**

One spring day The Great Prince of the forest was walking out of his den with his son. The little Prince was laughing happily beside him, being very lively and energetic. "Come on sleepy head," he said, running way ahead of him.

The Great Prince sighed. "Remind me never to let you eat blossoms before bedtime," he said, shaking his head at his son's happiness.

"Wait," the little Prince suddenly exclaimed, causing the big stag to stop.

"I sense danger," the fawn explained.

"Where?" the Great Prince asked.

"Wasp's nest, antler height!" Bambi exclaimed.

The stag gazed upwards, seeing a wasp's nest in front of is antlers. He smiled and dug his head under it. "Very good," he said, recognizing the thrilling feeling that he so often felt when his son achieved something new.

"Wait," he said, suddenly getting in a very playful mood, "now I _see_ danger".

"Where?" his son asked, looking around, not seeing anything of course.

"A rival deer, right in front of me". His son was still looking around clueless. "No," he said, "he's pretty small he shouldn't be any trouble".

"Oh yeah," Bambi said, realization finally having dawned upon him. "I can give you plenty of trouble".

"No," not you?" the Great Prince said playfully, looking at his son, who was slowly approaching him.

"Yes me," Bambi said, throwing himself at his lowered antlers. "Gotcha!"

The two deer shared a wonderful moment fighting each other playfully; the Great Prince had his son lying down on his back, tickling him in a playful manner when someone clearing his throat interrupted them.

"Hello you two," friend Owl greeted, looking very amused by the situation.

"Hello Friend Owl," Bambi greeted.

"Well I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, now speaking to the Great Prince. "I thought you'd be out on the meadow by now".

"Yes," he said, feeling slightly awkward, "but I was a little," Bambi's head collided with his leg and he uttered a sound in discomfort, "distracted".

"Yes I can see that," Friend Owl said and chuckled in amusement, which the Great Prince found slightly annoying. He felt really awkward now, probably because the old owl had seen him act so foolish with his son. He had to be a little more on guard.

"Actually I've been wanting to speak with you," he finally told Friend Owl.

"Yes well I always end up finding what I'm looking for," Friend Owl said, still amused, "and now that we're at this subject I have someone I'd like you to meet".

That got the Great Prince's and even Bambi's full attention.

"Mena," the old owl said and made a gesture with his wing towards a doe that had emerged from between the trees.

The Great Prince immediately knew what this was about. The last couple of weeks he had watched Bambi's skills develop and he was starting to show himself worthy of his Prince title. He had enjoyed the time so much with Bambi that he had actually forgotten about his original plans concerning his son. Friend Owl's search for a doe had taken so long that he had completely forgotten about it, having not heard any news from the Owl for quite some time. Now remembering it made him feel horrible. It just occurred to him that he had never mentioned any of this to Bambi. He should have. Bambi had no idea that he had planned to send him away to be raised by another doe, he was probably under the impression that he would stay with him until he was grown enough to be on his own.

"Great Prince," Mena greeted and lowered her head in respect.

"Bambi, go back to the den," he told his son gently but also firmly.

"Bambi," Mena exclaimed, moving a few steps closer to the fawn. "I've heard so much about you. Did you know your mother and I grew up together?"

"Really?" the little Prince asked in excitement.

"Yes," the doe answered.

The Great Prince of the forest had a bad feeling about where this was heading. When Bambi's mother was brought up it made it ten times worse for him. It was like he was the only one affected this badly by her loss, his son only seemed to remember his mother as blissful childhood memories and was eager to learn more about her He was completely calm when speaking or hearing about her, it was like her death had not affected him at all, like he himself was the only one left who still suffered. His son had moved on.

"Bambi," go back to the den," he tried again, trying to be a little more firm but finding that a little difficult at the moment.

"But I want to hear about mother," Bambi said, his voice still filled with excitement".

"Don't worry," Mena said, "there'll be lots of time for that once you get settled in your new home".

That was it. Now it was too late. The thing that he had feared would happen happened. This was not the way Bambi should have found out.

Bambi turned his head away from Mena to gaze at him, with shock and disbelief displayed on his face.

"You're… you're sending me away?" he asked, his voice thick.

"No… Bambi let me explain" The Great Prince tried.

"But I did everything you said, and I even listened with my hooves and…" Bambi babbled.

"Bambi," he said sternly. "A Prince does not…"

"That's all you care about," Bambi shouted, "not about me".

That accusation made his heart ache but he knew himself, deep within, that it was partly true, that had been all he cared about until just recently. But he was not going to let Bambi's words get to him; his son was going to hear him out.

"Don't you dare talk to me that way," he said harshly, maybe a little too harshly. But the words had already escaped his mouth and he could not take them back.

"I wish mother was here instead of you," Bambi spat back before running away from the scene.

That last sentence was the final straw. The Great Prince was deeply hurt but he forced himself to ignore the piercing ache in his chest. This had all been a mistake he realized. Taking Bambi in. He was a buck for crying out loud, and not just any buck, he was the head of them all, the Great Prince of the forest, he wasn't meant or cut out to raise a child.

"Oh my," Friend Owl said. "I'm really sorry about this".

"No," the stag said, standing completely still while staring stiffly into the direction Bambi had disappeared in. "This is my fault. A Prince should not be raising a child".

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_So? Did you like it? Please submit a review :)_


	8. The Talk

_Sorry it took so long to update, I've had other projects and actually lost interest in this for a while but I thought that you deserved an update so I sat down and decided to update today so I wrote this. It's not much but it's something, I'm a little worried that this is out of character a little, but usually when I worry it's for nothing, thankfully. Enjoy._

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**Chapter 8 – The Talk**

When the Great Prince of the forest looked into his den he found his son curled up between the fallen leaves that were arranged to make sleeping in there more comfortable.

The stag took a deep breath before entering. He had to try to explain the situation to Bambi. He had to make him see that he only had his best interests at heart. And he was sure that in reality it would be much harder for him rather than for the fawn. A part of him wanted to shout at his son for behaving so disrespectfully towards him earlier but that would not solve anything.

He lay down next to his sleeping son. He nudged him gently with his snout a couple of times before he got any reaction.

Bambi woke up.

When the little fawn saw him he immediately turned his head away, determined to ignore him.

The Great Prince sighed. "Bambi please listen to me," he said gently. "Please hear me out".

There was no response. But the stag started explaining himself anyway, surely Bambi couldn't close his ears and not even he could go back to sleep that quickly.

"Bambi you need a mother," he started saying. "You need a doe to raise you. I am a Prince, I have my other responsibilities and I can not be there for you during the day, but a doe mother you will always have by your side".

"But I go with you on patrol now," said Bambi, "and you don't have to look out for me I'll probably have my antlers soon and I already know how to listen with my hooves and all that. I don't need another mother".

The Great Prince sighed once again. This was already proving to be more difficult than he had thought.

"Bambi do you miss her?" he suddenly asked. He didn't know where that question had come from but he sure had wondered many times.

"Mother?" Bambi asked. "I used to miss her all the time".

"Used to?" the stag asked in surprise.

"Well then I sort of realized that she was not coming back no matter how much I missed her so I started doing what you told me to. You said that a Prince leaves the past _in_ the past so I did and I stopped thinking about her all the time".

The Great Prince looked at his son in awe. Had he been able to move on? It seemed like it.

It was frustrating. He still thought of her everyday, every hour. How come his son could so easily move on when he could not?

"Don't you miss her now?" he asked Bambi. A little afraid of the answer.

"Of course I do," Bambi said. "But I don't think about her that much, it's easier that way".

The Great Prince couldn't believe it. In some areas his son was even wiser than him. He had moved on and not let himself be haunted by the memory of his dead mother.

Why could he not do the same?

The stag cleared hi throat. He had to get back to the subject that they needed to discuss.

"Mena grew up with your mother," he told Bambi. "She knew her well and will take good care of you. I remember in my youth that they were so much alike that I suspected they were twins, being with Mena will be like having your mother back".

"I don't want anyone to replace mother," Bambi cried, "why can't I just stay with you?"

The stag sighed. "It is best for you that way".

"No it's not," Bambi said. "How would you know? You never asked what I wanted!"

The Great Prince realized that he would have to think quickly and carefully if he wanted to avoid another argument.

"Bambi I have an entire forest to protect I cannot look out for you at the same time".

"Is there no way for me to stay with you?" Bambi asked, his voice slowly getting thick. Seeing his son this sad hurt him more than he thought possible. He wanted so much to say yes but that would be lying, being raised by a doe was best for Bambi.

"No," he said and looked down at the hooves on his front legs.

Bambi looked down as well, heartbroken.

"I've already arranged for Mena to meet us later so that she can escort you to your new home," he told his son. "You'll see everything will be back to the way it was once".

Bambi didn't look convinced at all.

"Dad?"

The Great Prince looked directly at Bambi to show that he was listening.

"Will I be going far away?"

The Great Prince thought about it for a moment. It would take some time to go there, Mena lived in the other part of the forest.

"Not that far," he decided to answer. "I will still be able to visit you".

"What about my friends?" he asked.

The Prince lowered his head. It would indeed be difficult for little rabbits to travel to Mena's part of the forest but he couldn't really well tell Bambi that so he just looked up. "I don't know," he said.

"Can I go see them now?" his son asked, looking at him pleadingly with his mother's big amber eyes.

He nodded. "Go on, but make sure that you don't go play too far away from the den".

Bambi got up on his legs and ran out of the den to go find his friends.

His father sadly watched him disappear from view.

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_How was it? Please submit a review._


	9. Bambi's Departure

_Hey guys. I'm finally back with an update for this story. I'm really sorry that it has been so long. But I had technical difficulties with my computer. The spacebar on my keyboard was broken so I didn't feel like typing with an on screen keyboard. I hope that's understandable. But I got a new keyboard for Christmas. I hope you had a good Christmas, I sure had._

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**Chapter 9 – Bambi's Departure**

The evening was clear. The Great Prince of the forest stood near his den, watching as his son sad goodbye to his friends, the rabbit family, the skunk and the doe Feline.

"We'll come visit you," the skunk told his son encouragingly. "If it's not too far".

Mena's home was in the other end of the forest, way too far for a couple of little rabbits and a skunk to visit him, not to mention dangerous, the Great Prince thought sadly. It would without a doubt be hard for Bambi to get used to his new surroundings. But he would manage, soon he would find that he was much better off with Mena than with him. He would see.

"Bambi!" he cleared his throat to tell Bambi it was time to go. He knew from experience that the sooner Bambi left off to a new life the better. He had coped surprisingly well with his mother's death and had adapted well to living with him, he would be able to do it again with Mena, and who better to raise Bambi than a doe whom had known his mother? He was confident that Bambi would do well once he got used to his new life.

"I will never forget any of you," he heard his son say to his friends before he went to follow him.

He saw Bambi cast a sad glance up at him before he bowed his head again and kept it hanging down in his sadness.

"A Prince must make sacrifices," he said. "He must ignore his feelings and do what is best for others, do you understand?"

He glanced back at his son, wanting and hoping that he would understand and forgive him when he realized that this was the best way.

Bambi gave a slight nod.

He looked ahead and saw Friend Owl and Mena standing under a tree. He glanced back at his son.

"I'll visit you soon," he promised. "Be good for Mena".

He saw Bambi nod.

"And never forget, you are a Prince," he couldn't help but add.

When he had said that his son lifted his head to look straight ahead and the Great Prince watched as his son made his way over to the waiting doe with dignity. He was proud of him.

He watched as Mena lowered her head and smiled welcomingly at Bambi. Then she looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile that she would take good care of his boy.

He watched as Mena turned around and Bambi followed.

He couldn't help but feel hurt because Bambi hadn't even said goodbye to him. Perhaps he was too angry to do so or perhaps he knew that it was easier this way, but the stag wasn't sure it would be any easier for _him_.

Suddenly Bambi turned around and ran back to him. The Great Prince was actually shocked. Had Bambi gotten cold feet?

He was about to say something when he felt his son's head rub against his chest affectionately. Then Bambi turned around and ran back to Mena just as quickly as he had come. And now with an even heavier heart the Great Prince of the forest watched the departing forms of Mena and Bambi grow smaller and smaller until they disappeared into the horizon.

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_I'm sorry this was so short but it was very difficult to write, I hope you liked it somewhat anyway. ANd please review and tell me what you think :D_


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